Laguna earns 2 gold medals
Teams from Laguna Beach Water Polo Club, led by the 10-and-Under Coed and 14U girls’ teams who took first-place in their respective divisions, gave strong performances at the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics Tournament held at various pool sites in the Palo Alto area.
The tournament, held in two four-day sessions, concluded Aug. 3 at the Avery Aquatic Center at Stanford University.
“I think we represented ourselves pretty well,” LBWPC Director Chad Beeler said. “We won two gold medals, and the girls were in the top five all around. The boys’ teams did really well, too.”
10U Coed
Laguna took first-place in the Gold round by knocking off Newport Beach Water Polo, 7-2.
Prior to the finals win, Laguna defeated Irvine Kahuna (8-7), Davis Water Polo Club (14-3), Sleepy Hallow Aquatics (10-0), San Diego Shores (6-2) and DeAnza Cupertino Water Polo (9-1).
10U Girls
Laguna took fifth-place in the Championship Division of the tournament. Laguna won two games, defeating Vanguard (Huntington Beach), 4.1-4.0, and Davis, 4-3.
12U Boys’ “A”
Laguna won two games and placed 11th in the Platinum Round. In the 11th-place game, Laguna defeated Davis, 10-3.
The locals also scored a 15-10 win against ORWP (Glendale).
12U Boys’ “B”
Laguna reached the semifinal round of the Classic Division and finished in fourth place. In the third-place game, Laguna fell, 11-5, to Pacific Water Polo.
12U Girls
A fifth-place finish in the Platinum Round is where Laguna landed after it edged Diablo Water Polo (Northern California), 11-10.
Laguna previously scored wins over Offshore (14-2), Shore Aquatics (14-3), Valley Falcons (6-3) and Northwood (6-1).
14U Girls
Seventh-seeded Laguna won each of its seven games in the Championship Division to take the gold medal.
Laguna scored wins over West Valley Water Polo Club (19-1), MidValley Polo (20-3), Diablo (9.3-9.0, shootout), Stanford (10-4), United Water Polo (11-1), and Santa Barbara twice (10-6, and 8.4-8.3 in sudden death title game).
New season registration
The 2014-15 season for Laguna Beach Water Polo Club begins Sept. 2. Registration for the new season can be obtained at recreation@lagunabeachcity.net.
For more information, call Club Director Chad Beeler at (949) 285-9877.